Sarkozy to assemble new French government

PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) New French President Nicolas Sarkozy will today assemble his government to deliver on promised reforms and visit troubled plane maker Airbus to discuss its future.

Sarkozy has maintained a hectic pace since taking office on Wednesday, flying to Berlin that evening for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Europe and Airbus parent EADS, then appointing his prime minister the next morning.

After intense speculation over whom he would appoint to his slimmed-down, 15-member cabinet in which half the ministers are due to be women, the list will be announced at 0115 hrs IST with the first cabinet meeting scheduled for later today.

Sarkozy named Francois Fillon as prime minister yesterday, banking on the moderate conservative's negotiating skills to push through sweeping reforms in the face of union resistance.

''A dynamic government for reform,'' La Tribune financial daily splashed on his front page.

Sarkozy has pledged to cut taxes, slash unemployment and toughen sentences for repeat offenders, and has said he wants to act quickly to keep his electoral promises.

He has also tried to soften the tough image he built up as interior minister and is expected to name left-wing maverick Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister, the first time a president has picked someone from another camp for such a senior job.

Kouchner was among the politicians who held meetings with Fillon in the new prime minister's office yesterday afternoon, shortly after a brief handover ceremony with outgoing prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

Others included former labour minister Jean-Louis Borloo -- who political sources said is likely to take a powerful new post overseeing economic strategy -- and veteran Alain Juppe, tipped for a powerful new sustainable development ministry.

AIRBUS Leading female contenders are former defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who is likely to switch to the interior ministry, and Sarkozy's campaign spokeswoman Rachida Dati, tipped as the next justice minister.

A centrist, Herve Morin, is favourite for defence minister.

During his visit to Berlin, Sarkozy said he wanted to work urgently with Germany on the future of Airbus maker EADS, in which France has a 15 per cent stake, and he is due to visit the plane maker in the southwestern city of Toulouse today.

''It is very important and very significant that President Sarkozy raised this subject from his first day,'' Laurence Parisot, head of the MEDEF business lobby, told France 2 television.

When EADS was plunged into a financial crisis during the French election campaign, Sarkozy vowed to dismantle the shareholder pact which guarantees Franco-German parity within EADS.

Germany has resisted repeated French attempts in recent years to seize greater control of the company, which was founded in 2000 with a merger of the two countries' top aerospace firms.

Sarkozy has also said he does not feel bound by the company's Power8 restructuring programme, under which Airbus plans 10,000 job cuts in Europe, so staff and unions will listen closely to his plans for the firm.

EADS chief Louis Gallois met with Sarkozy at the presidential Elysee Palace yesterday.

REUTERS DS PM1337